Lebenshilfe, our member in Germany, hosted a meeting of Inclusion Europe members in Berlin on 3 and 4 June 2025.
Co-designing an accessible building
On the first day, a visit to Lebenshilfe Berlin offered the opportunity to lear about some of their work.
Self-advocates presented their participation in designing an accessible building. The building will include café, offices, and meeting places. The self-advocates work with accessible design specialist to help create a building that is easy to navigate, and welcoming to everyone.
Their work includes modelling of the reception area, designing the navigation system for the building, or creating a new set of pictograms.
Housing
The presentation took place in a communal area of a building in central Berlin where people with and without disabilities live.
One of the residents with disabilities spoke about what she likes about living in her appartment in this building. She also described how the process of accepting new residents works. For people with disabilities who may hesitate to move into their own appartment, there are weekly meetings with current residents to talk about what the life here is like.
- Read also: Housing report
Work and advocacy at national level in Germany
Later in the afternoon, Jeanne Nicklas-Faust presented the work of Lebenshilfe at the national level.
Lebenshilfe advocates for full rights and inclusion. They also provide legal support, and many trainings to people from all over the country.
Lebenshilfe has many members with regional and local branches all around Germany. Many of these regional and local organisations provide different services for people with intellectual disabilities.
Workshops
On day 2, our members discussed important topics in 4 workshops:
- Legal capacity and how to bring on reforms and practice so people can decide about their life
- Young families of people with intellectual disabilities and the situation parents and siblings are in, issues the face
- Self-advocacy and representation in organisations
- Support services, expectations and issues
These discussions lead into new activities and plans for Inclusion Europe in the coming years.
Conclusions
21 participants took part in the meeting over the two days, representing 12 member organisations from 9 countries. On 4 June, they joined other members attending online our General Assembly.
The meeting concluded with a brief session about the key messages from each of the morning workshops, and other ideas for our future work. The meeting was co-funded by the European Union.
